The invention broadly relates to target apparatus for projectiles, and is specifically directed to an improved archery target.
In recent years archery has become increasingly popular, particularly in connection with competitive target shooting, recreational target shooting and bow hunting. This popularity has been accompanied by significant technological advances with respect to the design, construction and materials for both bows and arrows. Currently, the most advanced high energy bows are capable of shooting carbon/graphite arrows at velocities exceeding 300 feet per second (i.e., approximately 200 miles per hour).
In target or range shooting, at both recreational and competitive levels, technology with regard to the targets themselves has lacked significantly. Arrows shot at very high speeds are capable not only of deeply penetrating the target but also passing entirely through the target thickness; i.e., the entire arrow exits the rear face of the target. This results in rapid breakdown and target disintegration, which occurs primarily because conventional targets are incapable of efficiently stopping high speed arrows. When the arrow penetrates a conventional target, it displaces the inner material of the target laterally; i.e., the arrow moves the material to the side, and the arrow is slowed by friction. When the arrow is removed, it leaves a hole corresponding to the diameter of the arrow. The longevity of the target (i.e., its ability to avoid material breakdown) is a function of the capability of the inner target material to return to its original position, thus closing the hole. Since the inner target material in conventional targets exists in a relatively large mass or volume, the target material is more easily displaced with increasing use and less and less capable of closing the hole created by arrow penetration. Thus, small arrow holes give way to larger and larger holes, ultimately resulting in target breakdown and disintegration.
Since archery targets are relatively expensive to purchase, the cost of maintaining targets at an archery range, whether commercial, competitive or recreational, becomes significant and sometimes prohibitive. Commercial ranges often use primary materials such as excelsior bales, fiberboard or compressed corrugated cardboard rather than manufactured targets. The reason for using primary materials is that they last longer and are more economically purchased than manufactured targets heretofore available. Nevertheless, these primary materials are problematic for a number of reasons.
For example, excelsior bales must be kept moist for maximum effectiveness. The moisture also reduces the likelihood of spontaneous combustion, which is a significant problem with respect to dry excelsior. Several states and municipalities require automatic sprinkling systems if excelsior is used for target material, and others do not permit its use as target material because of the fire hazard.
Further, when a hole develops it is not possible for it to be repaired. This problem is compounded by the fact that arrows are difficult to extract from the material, and damage to the arrow often occurs. Excelsior also leaves refuse as the material disintegrates, and this problem is compounded by the fact that a single archery lane for one shooter requires at least three bales.
Fiberboard is also used in commercial archery ranges in lengths (e.g., 10 feet) that are cut two feet wide and laid flat in stack relation. The height of the stack must be suitable to form a shooting wall, typically four feet to six feet in height. These layers must be compressed, which is accomplished by threaded rods extending through the entire thickness of the stack. Installation takes considerable time and initial cost is relatively expensive.
Fiberboard also disintegrates fairly rapidly after a hole develops, and this also requires some degree of cleanup in the range area. Compressed fiberboard also damages arrows both with penetration and removal.
Compressed corrugated cardboard is installed in substantially the same manner as fiberboard. It also involves relatively significant time, labor and expense in installing a new wall, but has relatively low durability. When a hole develops, a wall section must be replaced to maintain effectiveness. Arrow damage is also a problem with compressed corrugated cardboard.
Aside from primary materials, separate manufactured targets that are currently available also involve various problems.
One type of conventional archery target includes wrapped layers of grass that may be upwards of 12 inches thick and quite heavy. To ensure that such targets will stop most arrows and also to improve longevity, the target is wetted down and maintained in a moist state during use. This results in an extremely heavy target that is not only difficult to move but also cannot be stacked for storage because of the possibility of spontaneous combustion.
Other prior art targets employ a framework of semi-rigid foam that supports a plurality of alternate layers of cotton and different types of materials, including both burlap and synthetic materials. While arrow removal is relatively easy under normal conditions, the use of heavier bows with carbon/graphite arrows with such targets results in pass through in a relatively short amount of time.
Further, the voids created by removed arrows do not disappear, and the cotton filler material tends to settle at the bottom of the target with continued use. This is due both to gravity and the agitation caused by the penetrating arrow shaft. Targets made in this manner are often periodically rotated 90.degree. to compensate for this settling problem.
Our invention is the result of an endeavor to manufacture an improved archery target that will stop arrows quickly and efficiently without deep penetration and which will have a useful life that is significantly longer than prior art targets, thus reducing the overall cost of target maintenance. To accomplish these objectives, a target is provided which utilizes a multiple layer construction in combination with a plurality of compartments or pockets. Based on ease of manufacture, these compartments are aligned or parallel in the preferred embodiment. The compartments define a plurality of relatively small volumes, as distinguished from a single large volume, and each is packed extremely tightly with material so that it is displaced by compression in front of the arrowhead rather than lateral displacement to the side of the arrow. This enables the material to more easily return to its original position after arrow removal (i.e., the arrow hole is more readily closed after arrow removal). The preferred material for the segmented compartments is raw, processed (i.e., ginned) cotton.
The construction of the segmented compartments is such that, when each receives cotton under substantial compression, it expands laterally to the point of engaging the adjacent compartment or compartments. Thus, the target presents a relatively flat face to the arrow, rather than an outwardly bowed face that is common with single compartment targets. Further, the expanded contiguous compartments present a continuous (i.e., ungapped) face, and even if an arrow penetrates the target at a point lying between adjacent compartments, the arrow will nevertheless be stopped efficiently because there is no gap between compartments.
In most prior art targets, the arrow is stopped by friction. By using highly compressed cotton in a plurality of separate compartments, the cotton, which has long inherent fibers, has a tendency to ball up in front of the arrowhead, thus stopping the arrow by compression rather than friction. This not only efficiently stops the arrow, but also enables it to be removed easily. The use of multiple compartments with highly compressed material limits the amount of material that can be laterally displaced or pushed to the side, instead compressing the material in front of the arrowhead for significantly increased stopping power.
In contrast, prior art archery targets which utilize cotton as the filler material rely to some extent on compression to stop the arrow, but because of the large cavity in which the cotton is placed it is impossible to maintain sufficient compression to withstand repeated arrow penetration without sustaining lateral movement of the filler material and decreased effectiveness.
Since arrow stoppage in the improved target is by forward displacement and compression rather than lateral displacement and friction, penetration is at a lesser depth and the resulting arrow hole is filled much more easily after arrow removal. As a result, the target not only efficiently stops high velocity arrows, but also lasts much longer than conventional targets.
The inventive target finds application at the recreational, competitive and commercial level. It is particularly attractive in modern commercial archery range applications because the inventive target does not shed or leak material on to the floor and provides a target backstop that is easily moved from a heavily used shooting lane to a lightly used shooting lane, thus increasing longevity of the entire range. The result is a cleaner range floor and lesser maintenance.
Although the target is described below in relation to archery, the inventive concept can be utilized for other purposes and in connection with different projectiles, such as a backstop or target for the bullets of firearms.
These features and others will be better appreciated from the following description and associated drawings.